Today I found a really adorable little helper: A baby Praying Mantis! These guys are excellent predators for many garden pests! I've never seen one so tiny! I spied him sitting on a leaf of one of my many mint plants. He's adorable and very wary of my closeness, so I had to zoom in to get a shot of him. Check it out:
The discovery of this little guy has served to confirm a belief I hold in gardening: A healthy garden will resolve it's own problems if you provide good soil and proper planting mix. Thrips have been taking over my mint bed for a month or so now. I am tempted to use an organic soap to kill them off. I have a few spider mites too in the Lime Mint. I hesitate to do this because I have mason bees and other smaller bees visiting the mint flowers and I don't want to do anything to take away their food source or, worse, possibly harm them even with an organic soap or spray.
In an extreme situation, I would possibly cut the mints down almost to the ground and spray the soil and small stems I left to save the bed (since mints are perennial and not an annual crop). I was waiting until this fall to see if the problem will resolve itself on its own. It may be resolving now. I have spied lady bugs and the praying mantis and the new leaves sprouting on the mints aren't being sucked dry by the thrips, either. The only reason I would use any kind of spray in the garden would be if the thrips were to spread to other beds in the garden and I was afraid they would pose a serious risk to the crop. As it is, things are getting better each day and I hope I won't have to resort to sprays and still keep my mints!
On to other topics: I have a new garden video out too that I'll link later. The bush beans are holding strong and the pink okra are blooming like crazy lately. I'm very grateful for any real production in the garden this year with 21 days of 100+ degree weather. All my crops have been under a LOT of stress and I'm glad for anything that is hanging in there.
I've been hunting for new methods of fertilizing the garden organically. Rabbit droppings are said to be great and don't need to cure. You can put it straight on without fear of burning your plants! Awesome, huh? Sadly, I don't have access to rabbit droppings currently and it's hard to keep the compost up in this weather. To be honest, I've been having to MAKE myself go water the garden because the heat warns me off so well. If it wasn't for my husband watering in the morning when I am being hesitant, the garden would probably be dead.
That's all for now. Here's the video link:
Garden Video #7
Praying Baby Mantis
Happy Gardening and God Bless!
-The Heiress
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